Gandhian Anna Hazare, whose Jan Lokpal agitation had propelled Arvind Kejriwal to the national stage, has slammed the Delhi Chief Minister for demanding a return to the use of ballot paper in elections.

“When science and technology are developing, the world is moving ahead and we are talking about using ballot papers...It’s like going backward,” Anna said.

Describing the rationale behind his stand on the issue, Anna pointed out that use of ballot papers is a cumbersome process which involves steps like getting the signature of the voter and the folding of the ballot paper. The counting of votes also takes a lot of time, he said.

However, Anna added that the current EVMs should be replaced with totaliser EVMs. Anna feels that the use of these machines will make the process fool proof as no one will be able to find out who got how many votes in a particular poll booth.

Earlier, Kejriwal alleged that EVM tampering may have led to AAP's poor showing in Punjab, saying around 20 to 25 per cent of its votes may have been "transferred" to the SAD-BJP coalition. EVM tampering may have led to AAP's poor showing in Punjab, saying around 20 to 25 per cent of its votes may have been "transferred" to the SAD-BJP coalition.

AAP's poor tally of 20 seats is "beyond understanding" and raises a "big question mark" on the reliability of as political pundits across the spectrum had "predicted a landslide" for the party, he told a press conference here.

"How did the Akalis get 30 per cent vote share when an AAP sweep was a foregone conclusion? No one said Congress will perform so well and it got a two-third majority. We suspect that 20-25 per cent of AAP votes may have been transferred to SAD-BJP through EVM tampering," he said.